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Katie in the House!

There’s not a lot of people in this world that I greet with a large hug, a lot of clapping, a lick, and a 10 second sniff session. All this excitement happens though every time I see one of my best friends and, as of recent, my soon- to- be- again- ROOMMATE! Crockheads, for this week’s Friday Feature, my number one dawg, Katie Nichols, has the kitchen.

When I think Summer, I think BARBEQUE!

“Okay people, that was one heck of a winter. Now I’m no beach babe (unless Casper could pass as a beach babe, that is) and most of my friends would tell you I love a good winter, but as a bona fide southerner (aka pansy when it comes to truly cold weather) I’m peelin’ off my last layer of long undies (yep, I wear those) and shoutin’ BRING ON SUMMER! And when I think Summer, I think BARBEQUE!

One of my favorite things about barbeque is the various forms it can take—both linguistically and physically. Take, for starters, that the word “barbeque” is one of the few words in the English language that can function as a noun or verb. Most of us Southerners think of it as a noun—usually the likes of a mouth-watering pile of pulled pork (more on this later). However, the term can also be used as a verb…to barbeque some ribs or to barbeque chicken for dinner. You get the picture. Let’s move on to more concrete examples.

By birth I’m no big city gal (shout out to Murrells Inlet), but my curiosity has led me in the way of some amazing travels. For example, in Australia (shout out to my Aussies), the term “barbeque” refers exclusively either to 1) an actual gathering of friends and family, usually in a backyard and/or 2) the actual device in which one would use to cook such outdoor meals. “Barbie”—short for barbeque of course—is the Australian synonym for what we call a “grill.”

Now, moving on to more domestic discrepancies—I’m talking right here in the good ole U.S. of A. I debated mentioning the following story, as it is still a subject of an uneasy “agree to disagree” with my wonderful (cough cough, Yankee) boyfriend, Jay. It involves the day it really hit me that I was dating a northerner. During our first year of dating we ventured into Jim-N-Nick’s one day on King Street for lunch. As I scurried off to the ladies I quickly told Jay what I wanted. I said, “a barbeque sandwich, please.”

I’m quite the omnivore, so what follows didn’t really affect my appetite (I still ate every bite) as much as it got my pensive wheels a turnin.’

Drumroll. He ordered me a barbeque chicken sandwich.

From my southern born and bred vantage point, obviously, because I did not specify a different kind of meat I, by default, (say it with me Southerners) meant pork.

I’ll never forget the bewildered expression on his face as he drank his unsweetened tea and tried to make sense of my explanation that in the South we consider barbeque to be pulled pork, unless otherwise specified.

Now, all that being said, I made a BBQ Beer CHICKEN crockpot recipe—and it is GOOD people! I asked my friends Lee and Logan to share the meal with me. Since I moved to Greenville a few months ago, they have been so gracious; they’ve fed me A LOT (I’m that guest that takes seconds every time). I figured it was my turn. When I ran the idea by Lee she immediately offered to make blue cheese cole slaw to go with our BBQ beer chicken….dynamite.

Before I leave you with what I used and what I did, let me just say…

Wherever you’re from and whatever “barbeque” means to you—I hope you’ll CELEBRATE IT THIS SUMMER!

coleslaw (preferably blue cheese coleslaw if you have a friend that makes it 🙂 )

Directions
Put all ingredients in crockpot except chicken. Stir to combine.
Add the chicken to the mixture and spoon the sauce on top of the chicken.
Cook on low for 6-7 hours.
Shred the chicken and let sit for a few minutes before serving so it can fully absorb the sauce.
I served with blue cheese coleslaw and sweet potato fries.

good job Katie! I am going to make your recipe this week. By the way, I guess I qualify as one of those Yankees, having come south from up north. So, I guess by extension, that Yankee designation may apply to Susu as well?

I’m so glad you’re gonna give it a try! Hope it turns out just as good for you (it will probably turn out better:) Technically I don’t think extensions count… our Susu is quite the bona fide southerner as well!